


A Lannister Always Pays His Debts

by House_of_the_Lion



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Season 8, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:20:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28991349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/House_of_the_Lion/pseuds/House_of_the_Lion
Summary: And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that Lord of Castamere...
Relationships: Cersei Lannister & Sansa Stark
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	A Lannister Always Pays His Debts

**Author's Note:**

> All Game of Thrones universe belongs to GRRM, DB & DW
> 
> Enjoy reading!

The weather is fine in King's Landing.

It is hot.

One would almost forget that winter will soon be here.

The capital is bathed in sunshine, bathed in gold, as if to remind Daenerys that it is not yet her, who is on the Iron Throne.

But, one day, it will be her.

This is the goal she has always pursued.

The Iron Throne, the Red Keep, King's Landing, the Seven Kingdoms, all belong to her by right.

It all belongs to her.

And she will take what belongs to her.

She will take it by fire and blood.

_Fire and Blood._

.

Sansa sighs when Cersei leaves Dragonpit.

They came to King's Landing, and it was useless.

She glares at Jon.

It is because of him and his honor that the queen refused to help them.

It is because of him, and his allegiance to Daenerys.

It is because of him, that, in spite of herself, she returns to the Red Keep, after having spent so many years dreaming of returning there only on the day of the execution of the one who had tormented her so much.

It is because of him that she finds herself there, plunging her icy sapphire eyes into the burning emeralds of Cersei Lannister.

_A song of ice and fire._

_._

Everyone is relieved when Cersei finally returns to Fossedragon.

She has changed her mind.

Jon Snow, Daenerys, Tyrion, they were all right.

Darkness is approaching.

We must face it together.

It's this or die.

She takes one look at Sansa.

She promised to help her.

Because when the snow falls, and the icy wind blows, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

It's the same with lions.

_And winter is coming._

.

Daenerys is delighted to see that the Northerners do not welcome Lannister armies any better than her own.

They look at them with suspicion, both Cersei and her, as they pass them by.

They recall.

They recall that one should never trust outsiders.

They recall that the last time the Targaryen set foot on their territory, the North was stolen from them.

They recall that the last time they dealt with the Lannisters, it ended very badly.

A story of wedding, of red wedding, red as the coat of arms with the roaring lion, a story of regards and betrayal.

_The North remembers._

.

While they think about how best to face death, their death, Sansa often exchanges glances with Cersei.

Daenerys observes them, but cannot prove anything of their duplicity, betrayal or conspiracy that they may have fomented.

Of course, Cersei does not come to Daenerys' Small Council meetings.

But Sansa does.

And she talked to her.

She told her about what Daenerys were planning for King's Landing.

Cersei looks at Jaime and then at Tyrion, worried.

Words echoing thirty years earlier, bringing back memories of bloodshed and broken oaths.

She can't let that happen.

_Burn them all!_

.

The Long Night is over.

It left its place at dawn.

The dawn that adorns itself with soft shades of gold, pink, orange, contrasting with the black of night and death, the white of eternal snow and nothingness, the crimson of blood.

But this at the cost of many lives, including that of Jon Snow, who died stabbing the King of the Night.

Men and women, who fought, who perished, so that others could say death...

_Not today._

.

Everyone drinks to the health of the valiant fighters of the Great Battle of Winterfell.

Shouting and laughter is everywhere, coming from people unaware of what is coming.

Some soldiers have even picked up musical instruments and are starting to play.

Cersei looks at Daenerys, sitting next to her.

She may smile, but the queen can still see the hypocrisy.

Fury burns inside the Mother of Dragons.

The hall is now filled with the most famous songs of the Seven Kingdoms.

A good part of the men, half or totally drunk, start to sing.

Even the air, which has the bitter taste of reminiscence in the mouths of the Northerners.

_And so he spoke, and so he spoke..._

.

Sansa looks at Cersei again.

Her nod is almost imperceptible.

The men of the North who survived the Red Wedding now know that this does not bode well.

The joy falls away, replaced by fear, and the horror of what is to come.

Daenerys knows nothing, of course.

She hasn't heard of the Red Wedding.

She doesn't understand what's going on, this agitation common to all the inhabitants of the North.

She looks at Cersei in turn.

Her expression is perfectly illegible, her hand is resting on her swollen belly, and she looks back at her.

Daenerys shakes a little as she reaches out her hand to slightly move the folds of Cersei's gown.

She doesn't make a movement to stop him, always perfectly stoic.

It is when Daenerys looks down that she sees him, stuck in her rival's belt.

The blade is made of Valyrian steel and the handle of dragon bone.

_The Lannisters send their regards._

.

Everything happens very quickly.

The blood is flowing, garnet colored, like the wine that used to flow only a few minutes before.

The Northerners seem to calm down when they understand that they are not prey to lions, not this time, at least.

But the howling starts again, when they realize the macabre spectacle that is offered to them.

Daenerys has no time to react.

The Unsullied and the remaining Dothraki have their throats slit, their entrails emptied, their heads cut off.

The Lannister soldiers are standing in the blood of carnage, invisible on their crimson capes.

The cries of all the forced spectators can certainly be heard as far as Dorne, or Essos.

But in the middle of the slaughter, Daenerys can see two people who are not screaming.

Cersei and Sansa are sitting upright, two real queens, looking strangely like a mother and her daughter.

They are not surprised by the bloodbath.

Daenerys understands.

_A Lannister always pays his debts._

.

The lion feeds on the dragon.

Cersei raises her hand.

The daggers, swords, knives fall into the scarlet river that smears the ground.

The corpses bathe, innumerable, incalculable.

Daenerys does not even resist when three Lannister soldiers grab her and drag her away.

She can do nothing more, she knows it.

_Power is power._

.

Once the Lannisters returned to King's Landing, accompanied by Sansa, Daenerys stopped wondering why they did not kill her on the spot.

She understands when Cersei enters the city, Jaime, Tyrion and Sansa at her side, and she is dragged through the streets at the end of a chain by the Mountain.

Cheers are flowing in all directions.

The lioness, the lionesses, the lions, have eradicated the threat of the White Walkers and the dragons.

They defeated death, destruction, the nightmare of winter, and brought back the dream of spring.

When Daenerys is thrown into a dungeon deep in the Red Keep, where Cersei should have been locked up, she wonders how she will be executed.

She knows that Cersei has poetic revenge.

Perhaps she will want to see her burn?

Daenerys laughs darkly.

That would be ironic.

_Fire cannot kill a dragon._

.

In the end, it is not fire that is chosen.

The blade of the sword has the coldness and sharpness of ice when it comes into contact with her neck.

_When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die._

.

The war is over.

Sansa does not want the Iron Throne.

She left it to Cersei and Jaime.

But she got something anyway.

The Seven Kingdoms are now only six.

The Northerners give her a standing ovation.

"Sansa Stark, the Queen in the North!''

But Sansa looks at Tyrion, who is standing next to her, and she thinks with a strange feeling of tenderness that she is not a Stark anymore.

_Hear me roar!_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Please take the time to leave a little comment, it's always a pleasure ^^  
> Don't be too hard on English, it is not my mother tongue.


End file.
